A prison inmate jumped to his death off the Mosta bridge yesterday shortly after he escaped from a drug rehabilitation facility, making a run for it in a car he was meant to be washing.

The lifeless body of 29-year-old Keith Camilleri, of Qormi, was found at about noon in the valley below Mosta bridge.

Mr Camilleri had escaped from the Sant’Anna Caritas drug rehabilitation facility in Baħar Iċ-Ċagħaq at about 11.30 a.m. while washing a blue van that belonged to the facility, the Corradino Correctional Facility said.

Sources said Mr Camilleri had started the rehabilitation programme about three months ago. He was serving a three-year sentence for two counts of theft. A fine had been converted into a jail term.

The sources said Mr Camilleri had a very good relationship with the people following the programme and the professionals working at the facility where he was being helped with his heroin addiction. He was referred to Caritas on June 15 for a two-year rehabilitation course as he was nearing the end of his prison sentence, the prison authorities said.

Mr Camilleri’s body was spotted at about 1 p.m. after the van was seen on the bridge, the police said. A doctor from the Mosta health centre arrived on site and certified Mr Camilleri dead.

Duty Magistrate Audrey Demicoli has ordered an autopsy.